Barefoot Years

Description

'The myriad of the living in all of their many forms, defunct, mutant, revenant or otherwise; traversing memory's infinite field.' Martin Edmond's Barefoot Years is a memoir in which the author attempts to re-inhabit the lost domain of childhood. It is evocative and poignant, detailed yet fragmentary, full of half-forgotten things: what may be recovered also reveals that which is gone forever. These remembered beginnings, both familiar and strange, take us back to when a world was being made. This BWB Text forms the first part of a full memoir by Martin Edmond to be published by Bridget Williams Books in 2015.

Martin Edmond was born in Ohakune and grew up in small North Island towns. After university study, and a stint touring internationally with Red Mole theatre, he moved to Sydney, where he lives and writes. In 2013 he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction.

'I found Martin Edmond's Barefoot Years almost creepily recognizable.' Tom Aitkin, Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies, 4:2 (2016): 226.; `I adored this little book, whose minimalist telling reminded me favourably of Paul Auster's Hand to Mouth, the New York novelist's taut memoir ... The focus is kept tight, even as his imaginative canvas unfurls.' David Cohen, NZ Books, August 2015; `The text is full of wonderful detail, such as the description of "the hard green fruit" of the gooseberry bush, "which blushes a translucent coral as the berry ripens and you can see the seeds, in pulpy suspension, within" ... Appropriately, the book ends with an account of the last day in Ohakune ... which the Edmond prose voice has described in such richly varied books ...' Lawrence Jones, Otago Daily Times; 'Martin Edmond wants to take you along with him through his barefoot years. ... His detailed and descriptive writing connects directly to your imagination, using his words to guide you on a journey with him to his Memory House. ... Every sentence, every page in this book will remind you of your own childhood, no matter where you grew up yourself. ... This book serves as a stunning start to what is sure to be a wonderful account of Edmond's life.' Kimaya McIntosh, Booksellers NZ